Off Season 102

Hello Everyone!

This is part 2 of the Off Season mini-series, click here for part one.

Off Season 102
Move Forward, by Planning Backwards
Once your goals are defined, its important that you plan with the end in mind. If you're a basketball player, you know that you need to me in near "game ready" shape when October and Pre-Season roll around, and that being in "game-ready" shape in May will not win you a Conference Championship in March. That is why it is important to plan your off season backwards, starting with the end (in this case October).

Here's an example:
Collegiate Basketball Player (Main Goals: Increase Strength, Power, Speed, & Agility)
October: END Near "game-ready" shape.
September: 55% Strength & Power Work. 25% Speed & Agility Work. 20% Basketball Skill Work.
August: 80% Strength & Power Work. 10% Speed & Agility Work. 10% Basketball Skill Work.
July: 85% Strength & Power Work. 10% Speed & Agility Work. 5% Basketball Skill Work.
June: 85% Strength & Power Work. 10% Speed & Agility Work. 5% Basketball Skill Work.
May: 90% Strength & Power Work. 10% Speed & Agility Work. 0% Basketball Skill Work.
April: 90% Strength & Power Work. 10% Speed & Agility Work. 0% Basketball Skill Work.

Now I am sure most of you are reading that and thinking, "she's crazy!". Let me explain, if your main goals are to improve Strength, Power, Speed & Agility (meaning your basketball skills are up to par) then you need to make those the focus of your off season.

You may also wonder why Speed & Agility work is so low, the reason being that one of the best ways to improve your speed is by becoming stronger & more powerful. There are many research articles you can read on that subject if you have your doubts.

It is also worth noting that Speed, Agility, and Basketball Skill Work mainly increase only a month before the END. The main reasons for this are 1) it takes a lot longer to develop and improve strength and power. Basic exercise physiology states that the first 6-8 weeks of training lead to mainly neuromuscular adaptations (more nerves firing in more muscles, this is really important for power development), only after that does the body start making muscular changes (increase in size which assists in increases in strength) and 2) it does not take long for the body to adapt into better levels of cardiovascular conditioning. In fact, many suggest it takes only about 4 weeks to greatly improve one's level.

Stay tuned for more Off Season info!

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Haren

Off Season 101

Hello Everyone!

For the athletes out there, I want to provide a few quick tips that could go a long way into making your off-season an exceptional time to grow, improve, and most importantly help you reach your athletic goals.

Off Season 101
1.) Get Healthy
If you have some type of injury your first and most important goal is to get healthy! Take advantage of your resources; athletic trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors, doctors, strength & conditioning coaches, etc. and let them help you heal. Ignoring an injury will not make it go away, take advantage of your off-season (when you are not playing competitively) and get your body balanced and healthy.

2.) Set, Write, & Plan Your Goals
Everyone has heard the old saying, "Failure to plan, is planning to fail." Before your first off-season training session you should have all of your athletic goals defined and written out.
Personal Playing Career Goals: more playing time, faster, stronger, more competitiveness, jump higher, quicker agility...
Team Goals: win conference championship, improve overall record...
Personal Goals: eat better, more sleep...

3.) Individualize Your Off Season
Building off of #2, take some time to find out what your weaknesses are. Look critically at yourself. What areas do you need to improve? Be honest. You do not want to spend your off season getting better at things you are already good at when you could be completing yourself as a player by improving your weaknesses. Also ask those around you what your weaknesses are. Ask your coaches, athletic trainers, teammates, and strength & conditioning coaches to honestly tell you where you need to improve. Once your weaknesses are defined you can then develop the best plan of action that will turn your weak points into your strengths!

Stay tuned for more Off Season 101!

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Haren

Acceleration Angle

Hello Everyone!

My fellow Strength & Conditioning Coaches will appreciate this photo I captured of one of UNCG's Women's Tennis players (she's a freshman btw).

I have been working on Speed, Agility, Quickness and Overall Movement Efficiency with the Women's Tennis team since August. The girls have worked very hard and have been very receptive to my coaching. This photo is proof that movement training is vital for athletes as it is truly a practical skill that is performed (and required) in most sports.

Things to take note of:
* Shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles are all in alignment
* Good 45 degree acceleration angle
* Good "toe-up" dorsi-flexion
* Good attack back and shin angles.

BTW, the girls won that match and almost upset #27 ranked Indiana the night before. :-)

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Haren

With a Vision, People Thrive

Hello Everyone!

"Without a vision, the people will perish" - Proverbs 29:18

Do you have a vision for your life? If you're an athlete do you have a clear vision of what you want your athletic career to consist of? If you want to change your life, how are you going to do it? And when?

I believe in the importance of visualizing what you want your life to be and using that vision to help you establish goals that will help you make your vision a reality. If you do not have a vision for your life then you are just living day by day, making no significant changes in your life.

Below is a sample from my personal "Lifetime Goals". I have provided it for you to use as a guide if you wish to create your own. It has specfic goals that have deadlines and the what, why, and how they will be achieved. These (and many others) are parts of the vision I have for my life, a vision that I plan to make a reality.

Without a vision, the people will perish...
...With a vision, people thrive!

Are you ready to thrive in all aspects of your life? Take some time and invest it in yourself.

Keep Liftin'
Coach Amanda Haren

How to Make Your Own Suspension Exercise Trainer

Hello Everyone!

Suspension training has been around for some time in various forms. It involves suspending part of the body and using the rest of the body's weight as resistance when you perform different movements.



I think suspension training is great! It allows you to train your whole body in one area and it's portable. Some of the most popular suspension training devices are the TRX and Blast Straps. The only problem is these systems can be expensive. So I decided to make my own (tried it out this weekend and it worked great!) and I will show you how you can make your own for under $15! Mine cost $14.18 and I have enough material left over to make another one!



Step 1:
Purchase:
1 Polypropolene Rope (mine was 50ft and I cut it in half for 2, 25ft ropes)
1 Friction Tape (the kind you use on baseball bats & hockey sticks)







Step 2:
Tie Slip Knots on both ends of the rope (I used THIS video to help me tie the knots)







Step 3:
Cover the loops with the Friction Tape. Be sure to add extra layers to the one end so that the rope doesn't slide through and tighten around your hands when in use.





THAT'S IT! Again, I used mine this weekend, it worked great and my abs are still sore. I would suggest maybe using only 20ft of rope instead of 25ft since I have to wrap mine around a lot to get the right height, but that is a small price to pay for saving so much money and having 2 units!


Keep Liftin',
Coach Amanda Haren

Training Philosophy (Part 2: Necessities)

Hello Everyone!

I'll get straight to the point... train like you play!

Athletes are some of the busiest people I know (strength coaches are the first!) and any time an athlete can dedicate to resistance training is time that needs to be well spent. Below are some of my "program necessities" that I feel should be included as much as possible in most athletes' training sessions.

Program Necessities for Athletes
1.) Sport Functional
* When appropriate try to mimic movements that are done on the competitive stage. Why lie down on a bench and pump out presses when athletes rarely (if ever) lie down during a game/match and push? Same thing goes for the leg press, if you're injury-free, get out of that machine! If the athlete's sport is played standing make most of your exercises standing. Studies have shown that the body is very sensitive and adapts specifically to how it is trained. Train on the leg press, and you'll get better at the leg press, train using lunges & squats, and you'll strengthen your body in movements that are similar to those done on the court!2.) Multi-planar/Multi-direction
* Many programs forget to add transverse and frontal plane exercises in their routines, instead including only the sagittal plane. Very few sports are done by just running straight forward & backwards, most are done with lateral shuffles, diagonal cuts, and many other side-to-side movements. The body needs to be strengthened in this matter as well (again the body is very particular about how it adapts). Be sure to include all-planes in your training (a great example exercise is the lateral lunge).
3.) Corrective Work
* Look at the general injury trends for your sport; what are the most common injuries? For example, golfers & volleyball players spend the majority of their competition with their shoulders rounded forward as they prepare to hit the ball. Many times this causes an over-stretching of the upper back and tightness along the upper chest & shoulders. I mentioned last time the importance of healthy posture and injury-free training. Why not prevent injuries by adding some corrective work to your programs (even if there isn't signs of injury/imbalance)? In the case of our golfers & volleyball players, try adding some corrective scap work and extra pulling movements while limiting the pressing.

4.) Power & Reactive Work
* There are big differences between being the strongest athlete and the most powerful athlete. The most powerful athlete is most likely getting more playing time and is seen as more athletic. The simplest way I can explain this is: Training for strength usually involves heavy (near max) loads that the athlete moves at a slow speed (because it's so heavy) while power exercises require you to move the weight as fast as possible. Are sports slow or fast? Of course they are fast! If you only train your body using slow movements your body will adapt by becoming stronger, but it will not fire as explosively as you would like. Add power movements that train your body to be fast & explosive (just like your sport)! NOTE: Strength goals & exercises should also be a part of your program, because it is important to be strong, just don't forget to add power.
* Along those same lines, add some quick, reactive work to your programs. Quick jumps & agility drills demand the body to fire faster and reinforce that not only do you want to be strong, but you want to be able to explosively use that strength!

5.) Core Strength & Stabilization
* It's becoming more and more common knowledge that a strong, balanced core is key for optimal performance. If you still are not adding core work to your programs than watch the next time you attempt a heavy (near max or max) squat. When your form starts to break down what happens? Do the hips rise faster than the chest? Back starts to round? Many times it's the core giving out first. The number one core strengthening exercise IMO? Front, Side, & Back Pillars. If possible, add standing core exercises as well (reference #1).

6.) Full Range of Motion & Flexibility
* Some times athletes will ask me, "Why do I have to squat so low? I never squat that low in a game." A valid question indeed. For my basketball players I usually reply with a question of my own, "What do you hear coach always saying about playing defense?" The reply commonly involves "getting/staying low". If you train in a full range of motion than you are strengthening that muscle through its entire length, and muscles, like most things, are only as strong as their weakest link. We all have the ability to squat low...or at least we used too...next time you're around a toddler watch how they bend over to pick up things. By training the entire length of the muscle we know we are training our body as it meant to work, the way it was when we first got it.
7.) Train the Energy System
* This refers more to speed & agility work, but can be applied in the weight room. Depending on your athletes' sport you should be training either Anaerobically or Aerobically. Many team sports are anaerobic in nature, requiring energy from the ATP/CrP system and Glycolysis system. Limit rest periods between sets to those similar to the rest periods seen in competition (obviously within reason, if you're maxing out, don't give yourself only 30 seconds between each set). And when conditioning, don't run/jog mile after mile if your sport involves many bouts of sprinting. Running a mile will only make you better at running the mile (see my "Interval Training for Athletes" article).

8.) Quick Tips
A.) 2:1 ratio for PULL:PUSH movements. Most athletes over-train their pushing muscles and under-train their pulling.
B.) Train that Posterior Chain! Athletes should look better going than coming! The front is for show, the back is for go! You get the idea.
C.) Activation Techniques. Foam rollers & bands should be used at least once a week to keep the body balanced.

Whew! I hope you found some things useful in this post. If you have any questions/comments feel free to post on this blog or contact me via email.

Keep Liftin',
Coach Amanda Haren

Training Philosophy (Part 1: Injuries)

Hey Everyone!

I believe it is so important to have philosophies; to live by, work by, and train by. As a strength & conditioning coach I sincerely believe that it does not matter how strong, powerful, or fast an athlete is if that athlete is injured.

So many times I've heard of athletes coming back from injuries too early (whether because of their own desire, or that of a coach) only to be re-injured and miss more playing time. Not only that, but many times athletic performance & training departments ignore an athlete's warning signs...many of which can be precursors to injuries. It must also be said that the field as a whole has made huge progress in this area and because of this I am always conscious of and trying to combat these 5 issues/warning signs for my athletes.

1.) Postural Issues
Examples include: Rounded Shoulders & Pelvic Tilt (anterior & posterior)

2.) Muscle Imbalances
Examples include: Quad VS Hamstring, Chest VS Back, Anterior Shoulder VS Posterior Scap, Abdominal VS Low Back

3.) Mobility Deficiencies
Examples include: Ankle, Hip, Shoulder, Thoracic Spine

4.) Muscle Inactivation
Examples include: Gluteus Medius, Hamstring, VMO (especially in females)

5.) Flexibility Limitations
Examples include: Hamstring, Shoulder, Hip Flexors

If, as a professional that is entrusted with making athletes better, you do not consider these issues and how they can personally affect individuals, you are in essence keeping your athletes at a higher than necessary risk level for injury, and in many cases preventing them from reaching their true potential...a potential that is best expressed in athletes that are balanced, mobile, flexible, fully-activated, and have healthy posture.

Next time I will discuss key components for any athletes' training program & specifics about the exercises you should be including.

Keep liftin',
Coach Amanda Haren